Update: Many hurt, unknown number killed in fertilizer plant blast near Waco

Several buildings burning, nearby residents told to leave

An elderly person is assisted at a staging area at a local school stadium following an explosion at a fertilizer plant Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in West, Texas. An explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco caused numerous injuries and sent flames shooting high into the night sky on Wednesday. (AP Photo/ Waco Tribune Herald, Rod Aydelotte)

Elderly persons from a nearby nursing home are triaged in a parking lot before being moved to a school stadium following a fertilizer plant explosion Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in West, Texas. The explosion near Waco Wednesday night injured dozens of people and sent flames shooting high into the night sky, leaving the factory a smoldering ruin and causing major damage to surrounding buildings. (AP Photo/Waco Tribune Herald, Rod Aydelotte)

WACO — Several firefighters and dozens of others were injured in a fertilizer plant explosion in West shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday. An unknown number of people were killed, an official said early today.

Multiple buildings caught on fire, including West Intermediate School, after the explosion at West Fertilizer Co., and a dispatcher calling for ambulances said "we do have a lot of injured here."

A dispatcher said people were trapped in a nearby apartment building.

Firefighters were trying to put out a fire at the plant when the explosion occurred, said West Mayor Pro-tem Steve Vanek, who was on his way to help when the blast took place. Officials said anhydrous ammonia and other components at the plant contributed to the explosion once the fire started.

Shortly after 9 p.m., Vanek was talking to personnel near the scene, visibly upset with his head in his hands, bent over at the waist. One of the people speaking with Vanek said "he lost a lot of his buddies out there."

Asked if he knew if any of the firefighters were killed, Vanek replied, "I fear for the worst, but I'm praying for the best."

West Police Sgt. Michael Irving said he could not confirm the number of injuries or if anyone was killed. Hours later, however, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman said an unknown number of people had died.

Around 10:30 p.m., Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center CEO Glenn Robinson reported that the hospital had treated 61 patients. Patients were also taken to other area hospitals. Shortly after the incident, officials shut down access to the plant and could be seen evacuating people from homes near the facility.

West Mayor Tommy Muska said main fire was under control as of 11 p.m., but residents were urged to remain indoors because of the threat of new explosions or leaks of ammonia from the plant's ruins.

Bill Bohannan, who was visiting his parents at their house in West, near the plant, witnessed the explosion and said it was a devastating blast.

"I said, ‘This thing is going to blow' ... and I told my mom and dad to get in the car," Bohannan said. "I was standing next to my car with my fiancee, waiting for my parents to come out and (the plant) exploded. It knocked us into the car ... Every house within about four blocks is blown apart."

A stream of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, sheriff's deputies, and other emergency vehicles, poured into the town shortly after the explosion. A Hill County sheriff's deputy who was directing traffic said the explosion shook the windows of his home in Whitney. The deputy said a fire broke out at the fertilizer plant and the blast occurred while firefighters were trying to put it out. Many of the injured are firefighters, he said.

Crystal Anthony, who serves on the West Independent School District board of trustees, said she and her daughter were "knocked back" by the blast as they stood blocks away from the plant.

"A nearby nursing home is really bad, there's an apartment complex and the school (West Middle School) that caught fire," she said. "We've been moving patients out of the nursing home and taking them to the football field and gymnastics building on Davis Street."

Denise Day, a nurse at the West Rest Haven Nursing Home, said she had arrived at her home 23 miles from West when she heard the explosion. At first, Day said, she and her husband thought it was thunder. But after turning on an emergency scanner, they quickly learned what had happened and she returned to help evacuate about 50 to 100 of the nursing home's 140 residents.

Many of those evacuated from the home could be seen sitting in wheelchairs near the end of the high school's football field with cuts on their heads from flying glass after the explosion. About 15 to 20 ambulances were parked on the football field.

Around the same time, police officers and sheriff's deputies continued to comb the area, trying to evacuate residents within a 1-mile perimeter and looking for people injured in their homes.

Lucy Nashed, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry's office, said personnel from several agencies were en route to West or already there, including the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, the state's emergency management department and an incident management team. Also responding is the state's top urban search and rescue team, the state health department and mobile medical units.

American Red Cross crews from across Texas were also heading to the scene. Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster said the group was working with emergency management officials in West to find a safe shelter for residents displaced from their homes. She said teams from Austin to Dallas and elsewhere are being sent to the community north of Waco.